All right. And so going back to Fortnite now because of our family's holiday, we began a new chapter in Saul's relationship with David. Things kind of changed up. David and Goliath, Saul was like, hey, this is great. You know, I'd love to have this guy on my team. He was the hero in the battle against the Philistines. But Saul brought David back and he entered into his military, and all of a sudden, as they're going around parading in the different villages or cities that they would come into, the women would come out singing and dancing and exalting the glory of the battle, but they're giving more credit to David than to King Saul and so Saul is moved with envy a fortnight ago. I think as well we looked at or maybe three weeks ago We looked at this verse Proverbs 27 for wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous but who is able to stand before envy and you remember we went back and we looked at all the stories in the Bible where Envy crept in and so many times murder was associated with that. Even Jesus Christ was crucified because God wanted him to be crucified, but the human cause was the envy of the false leaders, false religious leaders that desired to take the life of Christ. So at this point, or sorry, Saul has tried twice to spear David. He's tried to cast the javelin at him and pin him to the wall, but David escaped out of his hand. Now Saul sent David out to fight battles. He wants to get him out of his sight, you know, and out of his area. But in that, David's gonna succeed in the battles. David's gonna get more glory from that even. And so it's kind of not working out as Saul desires. And so where we're at in the story, Saul is plotting David's destruction. So he's not giving up on killing David, he's just gonna change tactics to try to get it done. So he's gonna set a trap for David. I grew up in the Midwest, the United States, we got a lot of animals, we enjoyed this past week, seeing the many animals as we traveled and whatnot. But a lot of animals in the United States and we had loads of squirrels, gray squirrels in our area. I think we had rabbits as well, and I can't remember as a child what kind of trap we were setting, what we were trying to catch. Maybe you did the same thing or have done the same thing, but we took a box, a crate, put it up on a stick, tied a string to it, put the bait there with a carrot or maybe a walnut if it was a squirrel. set or trap you know and you always hope you're going to get something and as far as I remember we never caught anything with that if we had caught something I'm not sure exactly what we would have done with it but that bait is important without that bait you're not going to get the animal to get into that trap. And so Saul is going to bait a trap. He looks at David. David's young. He's unmarried. Saul has daughters. And so he's going to use his daughters as bait for his trap. Specifically, first of all, Mirab. And specifically really the idea of marriage. He's going to try to set that marriage trap as a trap for David. And so he offers his daughter in marriage, hoping that David is going to be killed in winning her. And so verse 17, It says, and Saul said to David, behold, my elder daughter Mirab, her will I give thee to wife, only be thou valiant for me and fight the Lord's battles. Now, interesting, and it's interesting when you study the Bible, you actually see this idea when somebody is in sin that sometimes they try to tie God into it. And so you see that here, he says, you know, David, go out and fight for me and fight the Lord's battles. But I mean, his desire is that David is gonna get killed in battle, is the word of God's gonna tell us. For Saul said, let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him. Let him get killed by the Philistines. You know, the last wedding that I think all of us were at were Jamie and Rebecca's wedding. Were you there, Boyd? I thought so, yeah, and Tommy would have been there as well. And so Jamie and Rebecca's wedding, but you go to a wedding and I had an interesting view this time doing the wedding, my first wedding that I've ever done. The only wedding that I've ever done is watching the bride come down the aisle. Of course, she's got her father there as well. And as you're watching that take place, it wouldn't be unusual to see a tear going down that father's cheek. And as you see that, it might be a tear of joy thinking that he's no longer financially responsible for this young lady as soon as he passes her hand off to this other man. Maybe that's it, but I think more likely it's bittersweet. This is a precious relationship. He's been responsible for this girl. Now she's gonna be responsible to another man. Is the guy good enough? Is he gonna take care of her? There's a lot of interest in the well-being of that daughter. You know, a godly father is loving and protective of his daughters. Now you look at Saul and you think, wow, he doesn't care. He doesn't care about Mureb. He doesn't care about, as we're gonna see, Michael. All he cares about is his own selfish interests, what he desires to take place. And obviously, if David was killed, that's absolutely contrary to the happiness of his daughter, if she actually cares at all about her husband or her future husband. And so he's presenting this idea to David. He wants David to take the bait, but verse 18, David said unto Saul, who am I and what is my life or my father's family in Israel that I should be son-in-law to the king? Okay, David was what Saul used to be and that is little in his own eyes. And that's what Samuel said to Saul when Saul sinned against God and did offer the sacrifices that he shouldn't have offered, didn't fully fulfill the will of God in killing those that God intended to be killed. He's rebuked by Samuel and Samuel says in 1 Samuel 15 verse 17, when thou was little in thine own sight, was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed the king over Israel." So God couldn't use Saul anymore because Saul was very proud. And we've talked about Saul never repented, but David, David is humble. Obviously, is David a great man? He's musical, you know, he's faithful. He's chosen by God, he's anointed by God to be the next king. I mean, he's gone out to battle against an adversary that was impossible to beat. He's come back victorious. There's a lot of people championing David and yet David maintains humility and is humble and God can use David. I'm reminded and I want to remind us this morning that those whom God uses are humble. That somebody of humility, somebody that is little in their own sight. And if I could just define humility as dependence upon God, I think it's not a bad definition. It's a sense of, you know what? I am what I am by the grace of God. Anything that I have has been given to me by God. I can't exercise it except as God enables me to exercise it. So it's a continual recognition that I am what I am by the grace of God. Where pride is I am what I am, you know, I I have arrived type idea But God uses those that understand their dependence upon him 1 Peter 5 5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility for God resists at the proud, but give it grace unto the humble. If you want to be somebody that God is like this with, be somebody that is proud. If you want to be somebody that receives from God what is necessary, be somebody that is humble, that God gives grace unto the humble. And Psalm 138 verse six, though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar off. God is so far above, and yet the ones that God cares about are not the ones lifting themselves up, but the ones that are lowly in their own eyes, God embraces that, God cares about that. Humble and contrite heart, God will not despise. but the proud he knoweth afar off. Just meaning that he distances himself, he separates himself from those who are pride, because really pride separates itself from God. And so here Saul is trying to get David into a trap and David, his humility really is gonna protect him quite a bit through this whole situation. But Saul was insincere in his offer, okay? So he gives this offer to David, he's insincere about it because instead he gives his daughter to another man. Verse 19, it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife. Okay, so you think about that. I mean, if we could just read that verse and think big deal, but it is, I think, a very big deal what David is facing as he goes through a situation like that. Why? Because David was lied to. Saul was not a man of his word. He was not a man of truth. And in that, Saul was unlike God, right? Saul was unlike the very nature and character of God, which is truth. Numbers 23, 19 says, God is not a man that he should lie. neither the son of man that he should repent hath he said and shall he not do it hath he spoken and shall he not make it good okay if god says that he's going to do something can you bank on it absolutely right That is the source of great strength to us. Even today in the message I'm gonna preach this morning, it has a lot to do with that idea that God is a God of his word. What God says, God does. But there's a lot of people that aren't like that. There's a lot of people that say something and they don't mean it. They don't care to keep their word. I'll give you a personal example. I have a man that has, in this past year, offered to take me fishing, told me he's gonna take me fishing, said, we are going to go fishing on a Friday, all right, on a Friday. I love to fish, I would like to go fishing. I'll tell you this, I don't get my hopes up anymore because I've heard him say it several times and I keep waiting for that phone call, that email, and maybe I could give him every excuse, whatever, but he doesn't really mean what he's saying about that, I don't think. And I just recently said to my family, if he says he's gonna take me fishing in the future, I may just go, that's okay, that's okay, because I don't wanna get My hope's up about that. Proverbs 25, 19 says, confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint. I don't have to go fishing. But if it's something that I need, something that's really, truly important, the last thing you want is to be depending on somebody to get that done that is not going to get it done. I mean, the last thing you want is somebody that says, I will, and they don't. You'd rather have somebody that says, I don't, but they will, right? I mean, that's what the Lord said, isn't it? The Pharisees said that they will, but they don't get saved, right? They want to follow God, but they don't follow God. where somebody that is a sinner recognizes, they've said to God, I won't, I won't, but then they yield to God, they get right with God, and then they do for God, that is a good thing. But there's a lot of people who say they will, but they don't. And so, if we don't remember our promises, that we've given, we should really start writing them down, okay? If that's our excuse, like, oh, I didn't remember saying that I would do that. I didn't remember saying that I would fulfill that responsibility. If that's us, we ought to write it down. If we've said something, if we made a statement of promise, I'll do this, we write it down. Why? Because we ought to be somebody of our word. I don't know if this is good or bad, but when I was in high school, I read a lot, and I read a lot of Louis L'Amour. And one thing about the West, I mean, your word is your bond. And if you say, if somebody calls you a liar, you shoot it out because your ability to barter and trade and buy and sell is based on your word. If your word is of no value, you are of no value. All right? And so, good or bad. One of the things that got in my mind from that is that you be somebody of your word. I guess that's a good thing. It's a great thing if in our heart we think, you know, I'm going to be that. I'm going to be somebody. If I say it, I'm going to get it done. And if you don't care to do that, The Bible says that you don't like the person and you actually hate the person that you're lying to. Proverbs 26, 28 says, If I afflict somebody by promising something that's not true, that's a lie. then I hate them because that lie affects them, all right? And so if I ought to be very careful, I'd be somebody of my word. Now, if I promised my kids something, I need to fulfill that. I'll just say that as a parent, we don't have a big group here today and a lot of them are my kids, you know? But if I see something as a dad, I want to be able to fulfill that. And I hope that I am somebody that does that. I hope I am. Because the last thing I want to do is give an opportunity to my kids to be better and to look at that and say, you know, I was lied to. That this was what was said. It never happened. And so that would not be a good thing. And so as we think about this, David is lied to by his future father-in-law. Okay, we know the story coming up. He's lied to by him. He could have been bitter about it. It could have really bothered him because this was something that was very important that he was lied about too. Now, have you ever been promised something that did not come true? And maybe we can think about that in our life. And then you ask the question, well, did it hurt? Well, very likely it did. If it was anything of value that you really were interested in, there was probably hurt associated with that. You know, I recently reflected on something that happened to me over 15 years ago, and I was really surprised about how raw it felt. It was an activity that I enjoy very much, and I had a date planned with somebody to go and do this activity, and unbeknownst to me, something happened, and it wasn't anything that I really thought that much about, and I didn't feel like I had offended anybody or caused any problems or anything like that, but there was an offense that was there, and this person just decided not to show up. The activity, I got up very early, I got all ready, I'm ready to go, and that person never came. And I'll tell you this, 15 years on, I can think back about that and I think, you know, that hurts. They never talked about it. Never came and just kind of cleared the air or said anything. I just kind of find out in a little backwards sort of way kind of what happened and no communication or anything about that. That hurts, right? hurts to be lied to. Somebody says something and it doesn't happen. So I say that to say David's now in a situation like that. David has been promised this daughter and then Saul just turns around and allows her to marry somebody else. You know, it's a bit like someone left at the altar. She was to be his bride. You know, and maybe others knew about it. There could have been a pride associated with it. That's going to be his bride. And she's turned around and she's given to this other guy. And again, the Bible doesn't go into a lot of the details surrounding this, but you can imagine that others might've been aware that David had been promised Mirab's hand. So David could have been embittered by this. And I think maybe Saul was hoping he would be. Saul's hoping that David gets upset. David does something dumb and tries to go against the king and that Saul can justly take care of David. And I point this out because Satan is sly and Satan is a deceiver and Satan is gonna try to attack us in ways like, we'd never think like, oh, David and Mirab, this is a big deal or not like David and Goliath. David and Goliath is obvious. There's a, I mean, a battle that's taking place there. You know he's there. But this is kind of a sideways attack that's coming in at David. Yet the Bible says, In Psalm 119 verse 165, great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. Okay, offend in the Bible doesn't mean that bothers me. It means that is a stumbling block. All right, it's a trip up into sin. Nothing shall offend them. Nothing shall be that stumbling block that will cause them to transgress against God. Great peace have they which love thy law. You know, David could look at this situation and say, you know what? King Saul's not faithful, but God is. Saul doesn't keep his word, but God does. We know this from David's life. David has faith, he has trust, he has dependence upon God. So he can look at it and say, wait, wait, wait. There's plenty of people that'll tell you, I am this way because this happened to me, circumstances. Because this is my environment. Well, that's not a biblical view about life. A biblical view is no matter what my circumstances, no matter what my environment, I can have all the grace necessary in this situation to succeed by the grace of God. So David was a little bit able to say kind of the saying, let bygones be bygones, yeah? It's water under the bridge. It's a little late to get upset. She's married. There's nothing you can do about it. And again, we're not given a lot of information about this, but David is able just to rest in God and say, God, you're faithful. And so if there's anything like that in our life, we think, well, there's a promise that's unfulfilled or something that should have happened that didn't happen. And I'm a victim of my circumstances. We need to stop and to do what David obviously did. And that is continue. to trust in God, not take Satan's bait because Satan would love for us to get bitter about somebody else letting us down or something like that. And then again here, Saul sets the same trap again for David, but this time he's gonna put a high bar, okay? He's gonna set that trap, he's gonna put the bar way up there hoping that David's gonna be killed. And so verse 20, Michael, Saul's daughter loved David and they told Saul and the thing pleased them and Saul said, I will give him her that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, thou shalt this day be my son-in-law in one of the twain, okay? And that phrase, in one of the twain, means the second time. All right, it's basically the kind of idea. It's okay, Mereb didn't work out, but here's another idea. And so Saul has more bait with which to set a trap. The trap is now gonna be set with his other daughter, Michael. And so he broke his first promise, and now he has a second offer. You know, did we read the text there, verse 20 and 21? Yes. Okay. It says, verse 20, Michael, Saul's daughter loved David and they told Saul and the thing, what? Pleased him. Is he excited? Like, oh, I'm so glad that my daughter loves David. Why is he excited? Yes. All right. Here, opportunity number two comes knocking. I can take David out again with the same trap. And so, you know, David, Does David think that Saul is truly his friend? I mean, a man that threw a spear at you twice and then lies to you about his, I mean, I think in David's heart, there's gotta be some caution, all right, with Saul. And again, we studied in Proverbs 27, and Proverbs is written by Solomon, most of it is. And when you get to chapter 27, I wonder at times, what stories in the mind of Solomon as he thinks about the proverb that he's writing because so many have to do with his dad in the situation. So here's another one, Proverbs 27 verse six. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Saul's offering kisses to David. I want you to be my son-in-law, but David in his heart has to know this man is not for me. So if he's speaking nicely to me, then I need to be aware. It's like Judas kissing Christ. Saul's just seeking the destruction of David. So David acknowledged the king's offer again with humility. Verse 23, and Saul's servant spake those words in the ears of David, and David said, Again, David looks at himself and says, man, I don't have anything to give to the king for his daughter. I've shared before about my wife and I getting married while we were students, and I was making $35 a week. I think I got $70 every two weeks, and you might think, well, man, when did you live? going back 60 years or something. But I got my tuition free. I got my housing free. I was a graduate assistant at Bob Jones. I was working on my master's degree. And so there was a lot of value in that. But when we got married, I lost my housing because I was going to have to pay dorm rates for my wife. It was actually cheaper than paying dorm rates to pay for our own housing off campus, and God provided a great little farmhouse that we stayed in when we first got married. I've said before, but I think it was $325 or $350 a month that we paid in rent, but every time I cut the grass, I either got $50 off or $75. And I like to say we had the shortest grassing career because I was cutting it all the time. I didn't have a lot to offer my wife when we got married. I've shared before about the things, the furniture, the lack of furniture that we had. We had everything that we needed, but not more than we needed. My brother gave us our first car, an old Ford Temple, I think 1998 Ford Temple, or older than that, 1988 maybe. And that was our first vehicle that we had. And I'm just thankful that my wife wasn't a queen or a princess. I'm glad that she didn't expect to live the high life. But this is a king's daughter that Saul's speaking about. So I get sympathized with David. David just goes, I'm a lowly shepherd. You know, I'm just kind of getting the military salary and things right now. I don't really have anything to offer to the king. And Saul loves that because Saul's going to exploit that. So Saul sees an opportunity to exploit David's humble position. Verse 24, It says, and the servants of Saul told him, saying, on this manner spake David. And Saul said, thus shall you speak to David. The king desireth not any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines to be avenged at the king's enemies. But Saul fought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. Okay, circumcision was a sign of the covenant from the time of Abraham. Circumcision is what an eight day old male child had surgically removed. And so the Philistines had this, but Israelites did not. And so there's going to be a testimony to who David killed if he brings this offering as it were to Saul that Saul is asking for. And so verse 26, and when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well. to be the king's son-in-law, and the days were not expired. Now, when it says the days were not expired, it's going back to the promise about Mirab, okay? There were so many days that David had to go out and do battle against the Philistines, and then Saul would give Mirab to David. Well, he violated that, but there was still some time left in the original agreement, and he says, how about this? It'll be Michael instead, and 100 Philistines killed, that'll be the situation. And so there's still some time left to do that. And just to think about this as well, David is anointed to be what? King, so doesn't it make sense, in David's mind as he thinks about this, doesn't it make sense to marry a king's daughter? If you're gonna enter into that position, it really does make a lot of sense. This is going to even more solidify the situation as far as your ability to be the future king. He was not a son of the king, but he was a son-in-law, or would become a son-in-law of the king. And so verse 27, wherefore David arose and went, and he and his men, and slew of the Philistines 200 men. Okay, wait a second. How many did Saul say to kill? 100, David kills 200. And David brought their foreskins, and they gave them a full tale to the king that he might be the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michael, his daughter, to wife. You know, I read that and I think, why did David kill 200? Just to prove that he could? Just to go that, you know, if somebody says go a mile, you go two miles, or what's going on there? And I don't know this, but I wonder if it's not that David thought, you know, this guy is gonna, I'm gonna come back with 100, he's gonna say, wait, wait, wait, I said 200. You know, or something like that. I mean, he keeps moving the goalposts. And so David just goes, I'm going all the way here. And Saul can't back out of it. Saul's got to fulfill his word, it seems. And so he gives him Michael as his wife. Now, as we look at this story, was it easy for David, the situation that he found himself in? But we don't see him complaining. By the way, when he defeated Goliath, what was he promised? The daughter of the king. I mean, David could have been bitter. David could have gone, oh, he keeps moving the goalpost. And it's not fair, but we don't see that in David. We don't see David acting foolishly in the opportunities that are before him. He doesn't respond foolishly. He just responds with wisdom every single time. He endures hardness as a good soldier for God. So Saul's doing his best to destroy David. It's just getting better and better for David. David had a God-blessed life and a loving wife. It says in verse 28, and Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michael, Saul's daughter, loved him. And Saul was yet the more afraid of David, and Saul became David's enemy continually, continually. Two things in Saul's life, envy and fear. It's destroying Saul. You know, and you think about that and think, man, did Saul have to have a miserable life? And he does have a miserable life. You just, I mean, from this point on, his life is just, what we see of it is fear, anxiousness, envy, not a fun situation. And you think, what could he have done? Well, he could have done this, repent, believe, and obey. And if you remember those words, repent, believe, and obey, repentance, faith, and obedience are the three things that are really necessary for us to keep a close walk with God. If sin comes into our life, repent, believe, obey. Saul never does that. He never gets right with God. We see him remorseful. We see him looking at his life thinking, ah, you know, it's miserable and he's complaining, but we never see him really get right with God. But David had a God-blessed life and a loving wife. And then David's name became legend in the Israeli military. Verse 30, it says, So the Philistines went out to battle, David went out, and he behaved himself wisely. And it says, so that his name was much set by. I mean, people knew the name of David. Oh, have you heard about David? President Zelensky of Ukraine has shown himself to be a mighty commander in time of war for his people. I don't think he's a saved man or anything. I don't know anything about that aspect of it, but he's shown incredible courage. And he has led with forcefulness. And even, I think almost two weeks ago, or a week and a half ago, Time Magazine came out with Zelensky on the front cover and basically credited him with his bravery and his courage in the face of danger, just bringing the West together and uniting the West as never before. His name is much set by. Most people nowadays, they didn't know Zelensky before, but most people nowadays know the name Zelensky. That's the way David was. David was relatively obscure, then God's bring him to prominence, bring him to greater prominence. No matter what Saul does, Saul's throwing everything at him, but God is blessing. You know, God could do that in our life too. We just need to look at the things that we face, not blame our circumstances, not get bitter, just keep our eyes on God. Say, I'm just going to trust God, and I'm going to go forward, I'm going to please God. And David did that, and God honored that, and God blessed David. All right, let's pray. Father, may the Spirit of God just bring these truths to our heart today. We could claim that we're a victim of our circumstances and be bitter. Or Father, we could be somebody that, you know, rather than getting bitter, we just get better. We just trust God more. We just look up more. There's a lot of times people are gonna fail us. They're gonna say something. It's not gonna happen. It's not gonna be what they said. I pray, Father, help us to be men of our word if we say it father i pray that we would fulfill it and father i pray that the spirit of god would prosper us just like he prospered david guard us from king sauls guard us from satan's attacks he's very subtle in the way he attacks god give us grace to do battle and to be strong it's in christ and we pray amen